Meridian 59
Ok, I didn't go into this expecting a whole lot. Except addiction, because well, i'm incredibly easy to get addicted to ANY online RPG. I must admit, I am a junky. I had been playing Diablo 2 for about two weeks straight again when Jesse introduced me to Meridian. So I figured i'd give it a try. My initial impression .... not too bad, for a game that is OLD. Some of the good points are its build system. I've always favored a skill based system as opposed to levels, although they have the "level up" feel with the HP system. The player driver economy is a warm welcome compared to the fact the no other game i've played has a DECENT economy yet. Every item in the game worth gettin can be found by players and bought with money earnable in less than a few hours even as a newb. The automap helps get things going as the graphics can be a bit confusing sometimes. The world is a bit small for my liking, and from what i've seen thus far, unless you enjoy PKing and guilds, the appeal of the game will all but disappear in a few months (about the time it will take a hard core gamer to max out a decent character). If PK is your bag. The Guild system and PK system is very nice. My favorite part is that when you PK someone you become an outlaw, and your name is red, so everyone KNOWS you PKed someone. There are people who dedicate their entire characters to killing PKers and PKing. The guild halls are nice (only a limited number of halls and guilds can claim them, or fight for them) and guild wars are VERY fun. They get out of hand sometimes, but doesn't it always when PKing is involved? Now for the bad things. The game is SMALL. The world is small, the spell choices are few, the skills are pretty bland compareably, the items you can get are limited (only 5 weapon types? WTF!) And worst of all. Rampant random PKing. When you have to worry at all times if you are going to be killed it can add a little excitement to the game, but when you lose skills and essentially levels for dying, being a newb sucks. And when most of the PKers are vets to the game, and have very strong characters, you don't stand much of a chance. I will have to give Meridian 59 a total score of ...
THREE STARS!!!
The game isn't anything great by today's standards, but for its time it was a king among..games. The main thing going against it is the fact that there isn't enough....stuff. If PKing is your thing, then you'll most likely get some enjoyment out of M59, but if you despise PKing, then avoid this game. You won't have any fun.
Meridian 59's home on the web.
